By Sandy Robson

December 10, 2019

Editor’s note: The Searchlight Review assembled “A Report on the Reports” based primarily on public records related to Western Washington University’s Center for Economic and Business Research’s 2014 and 2019 “Employment at Cherry Point” reports sponsored by the Whatcom Business Alliance. Readers can view a pdf copy of The Searchlight Review’s full report, released on December 10, 2019, here. The Introduction, Executive Summary, and Conclusion sections of Searchlight Review’s report are provided below, along with an interactive slideshow containing screenshots of email records which are included in the report. 

Introduction

This report assembled by The Searchlight Review focuses on the 2014 “Employment at Cherry Point” report, and the 2019 “Employment at Cherry Point” update to the 2014 report, both of which, were prepared by Western Washington University’s Center for Economic and Business Research (CEBR). CEBR was commissioned by the Whatcom Business Alliance to prepare the two reports. Western Washington University (WWU) is located in Bellingham, Washington.

CEBR’s 2014 Employment at Cherry Point report was prepared starting in the summer of 2014, and it was released in October of 2014. The 2014 Employment at Cherry Point report was co-authored by CEBR Co-Director and Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Dr. Hart Hodges, and Dr. William Beyers, Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Geography, University of Washington.

CEBR’s 2019 Employment at Cherry Point report which updated its 2014 report was prepared starting in the summer of 2018, continuing through early 2019, and was released in March of 2019. The 2019 Employment at Cherry Point report was prepared by CEBR co-directors, Dr. Hart Hodges and James McCafferty, and research analyst, Allison Rucker.

The Searchlight Review’s report examines public records related to the 2014 Employment at Cherry Point report which were obtained in October of 2017 from Western Washington University (WWU), and examines public records related to the 2019 Employment at Cherry Point report which were obtained from the university which were sent in installments during the months of April, May, June and July of 2019.

For the purpose of this report, and for CEBR’s 2014 and 2019 Employment at Cherry Point reports, the Cherry Point Industrial Zone is defined as the Cherry Point Urban Growth Area, as pictured in the map on the following page. 

Executive Summary

The goal of The Searchlight Review’s report is to provide information based primarily on public records obtained from Western Washington University (WWU) regarding the preparation of both the 2014 and 2019 “Employment at Cherry Point” reports created by WWU’s Center for Economic and Business Research (CEBR). CEBR was commissioned by the Whatcom Business Alliance (WBA) to prepare each of those reports. The Searchlight Review focused on the records of communications exchanged including those between CEBR and the WBA and other parties involved in those, as well as records of internal CEBR communications, all of which, related to both the 2014 and 2019 Employment at Cherry Point reports.

CEBR’s 2014 Employment at Cherry Point report provided “a point of reference in discussions about the jobs that currently [in 2014] exist within the Cherry Point Industrial Zone in Whatcom County,” according to the report’s Executive Summary.

CEBR’s 2019 Employment at Cherry Point report updates the 2014 Employment at Cherry Point report created by our Center and provides a more current reference point for discussions about the economic contribution, commonly referred to as an economic impact, made by businesses within the Cherry Point Industrial District in Whatcom County, Washington,” according to the report’s Executive Summary.

The Searchlight Review’s research finds:

• In its 2014 Employment at Cherry Point report, CEBR allowed Gateway Pacific Terminal (GPT) applicant SSA Marine/Pacific International Terminals (PIT) and its paid consultants to provide input on the draft report, using the Whatcom Business Alliance (WBA) as a conduit for SSA Marine/PIT’s interests.

• The 2014 Employment at Cherry Point report has been used for advocacy purposes by pro-Cherry Point development interests, despite the fact that in its report CEBR states in the Executive Summary, Introduction and Conclusion sections that the report was not intended to serve any advocacy purposes.

• Email records show, before even receiving a green light to proceed with the original Employment at Cherry Point report in 2014, CEBR co-director, Hart Hodges, suggested to WBA president, Tony Larson, that they (CEBR and WBA) discuss ways to get multiple organizations in support of the report. Hodges told Larson that he had talked to a few people about that possibility and he thought the best option would be to produce the report and then circulate it to a few organizations, and ask those organizations to say that they consider the report to be balanced and useful.

• Records show that SSA Marine/PIT’s paid consultant on the GPT project, Craig Cole connected Loyd Drain with WBA president, Tony Larson. At that time, Drain was the executive director of the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority (WIA), an instrumentality of the state of Wyoming that plays a vital role in supporting, advocating, monitoring, and promoting its state’s energy resources. 

• • • • SSA Marine’s VP of business development, Joe Ritzman, was included in some of those email communications. Drain expressed the WIA’s readiness to become a part of the 2014 Employment at Cherry Point report and contribute to its cost, and to meet to discuss the report’s Scope of Work to ensure all the parameters would be addressed.

• CEBR co-director, Hart Hodges, suggested to WBA president, Tony Larson, the idea of having a few people review the 2014 draft Employment at Cherry Point report and to make edits based on their feedback. The individuals Hodges listed included: GPT consultants Megan Watt and Craig Cole, Port of Bellingham’s economic development specialist, Dodd Snodgrass, Steve Jilk at Whatcom County Public Utility District #1, regional director of public affairs and communications for Phillips 66, Jeff Callender, and others.

• Records show that a draft of the 2014 Employment at Cherry Point report was distributed for review to GPT consultants Megan Watt and Craig Cole, along with Bruce Boram, a Seattle-based political and public affairs consultant who has worked with the Washington State Republican Party, the House and Senate Campaign Committees, and the Oregon House Republicans.

• Records pertaining to the 2014 Employment at Cherry Point report show that approximately three months after CEBR started working on the report, and after the draft report had already been sent out in early October of 2014 to various individuals, CEBR’s co-director, Hart Hodges, was advised by two groups at WWU, that he and his co-author of the report, Dr. William Byers, not use any outside help with the report. Dr. Byers is a professor at the University of Washington.

• During the interim between the release of the 2014 Employment at Cherry Point report and before CEBR started working in 2018 on the 2019 Employment at Cherry Point report, the WBA was working with at least two public affairs consultants who were included in communications with CEBR’s co-directors Hart Hodges and James McCafferty and the WBA regarding the proposed Cherry Point Amendments to Whatcom County’s comprehensive plan and code.
  • • • One of those consultants was BP’s director of communications and external affairs – Northwest for BP America, who was assigned as a part-time resource for the WBA for several months to help with work related to the proposed Cherry Point Amendments to Whatcom County’s comprehensive plan and code.

• During the interim between the release of the 2014 Employment at Cherry Point report and before CEBR started working in 2018 on the 2019 Employment at Cherry Point report, the WBA made multiple requests of CEBR’s co-directors to take several actions which would be considered to be advocacy efforts related to the proposed Cherry Point Amendments to Whatcom County’s comprehensive plan and code.
  • • • At least one of those requests originated from SSA Marine’s V.P. of project development, Skip Sahlin, and was sent to Hodges by the WBA on behalf of Sahlin. From reviewing the records released by WWU indicate that, eventually, Hodges told the WBA that he and McCafferty would not be able to help them in terms of those specific requests.

• According to email records, in August of 2018, WBA president, Tony Larson, asked CEBR co-directors, Hart Hodges and James McCafferty, if WWU/CEBR would be interested in doing an update to the 2014 Employment at Cherry Point report previously produced by CEBR.
  • • • It took approximately three minutes for CEBR’s co-directors to make the decision to prepare the update to the 2014 Employment at Cherry Point report for the WBA, ignoring the fact that Hodges had acknowledged to his co-director, McCafferty — that what the WBA wanted was CEBR’s (and by extension, the university’s) name on an advocacy piece. Giving the go-ahead in an email, Hodges told McCafferty, “Then go forth and generate revenue.”

• The 2019 Employment at Cherry Point report has been used for advocacy purposes by pro-Cherry Point development interests, despite the fact that in its report CEBR states in the Executive Summary section that the report was not intended to serve any advocacy purposes.

• Email records indicate there was at least one meeting (in September of 2018) with CEBR co-director, James McCafferty and WBA president, Tony Larson, at which political and public affairs consultant Bruce Boram was present. Email records also indicate that Boram was working with the WBA and CEBR on the 2019 Employment at Cherry Point report up through the WBA’s March 19, 2019 rollout event for the report, including a number of days after the event. 
  • • • In 2014, CEBR co-director, Hart Hodges, had previously refrained from getting further help from Boram on CEBR’s 2014 Employment at Cherry Point report based on the advice of two groups within WWU.

• Email records show that WBA president, Tony Larson, had to provide specific contacts at Cherry Point companies for CEBR to contact, and in a number of cases he had to contact those businesses himself to encourage them to provide the information for the 2019 report.
  • • • At least one of the businesses needed assurance that the WBA was involved in the 2019 Employment at Cherry Point report in order for it to cooperate by providing the information regarding employee numbers and wages requested by CEBR.

• According to email records, CEBR co-director, Hart Hodges, voiced frustration to his co-director, James McCafferty, that the WBA asked for a section on affordable housing in the 2019 Employment at Cherry Point report which was was not in the original Scope of Work.
  • • • Hart Hodges told his co-director, James McCafferty, in an email, that it was “quite a reach to let the WBA say something political.” While Hodges expressed his dislike for it, he and James McCafferty still included a section on affordable housing in the 2019 Employment at Cherry Point report. 
      • The affordable housing section that was added to the report consisted of three pages and was ultimately titled, “Affordable Housing and Poverty.”
      • Even though Hodges suggested in an email that CEBR add a footnote in the report to say that the “Affordable Housing” section was added at WBA’s request (which he described in an email as “a CYA move”), no such footnote appeared in CEBR’s 2019 report.

• Email records indicate that the WBA specifically wanted something to be included in the “Conclusion” section of the 2019 Employment at Cherry Point report that would show the median home price in Whatcom County that would be affordable at the average wage level in Whatcom County, and the home price that would be affordable for Cherry Point workers at their average wage level. CEBR did include a version of what the WBA had specifically wanted to have included in the “Conclusion” section of the report.

• The WBA held a March 19, 2019 event at which the 2019 Employment at Cherry Point report was rolled-out and there was a panel discussion of the report featuring eight panelists. Among the attendees, there were numerous elected and public officials who were invited by the WBA.
  • • • The majority of the panelists’ remarks perpetuated the message that the proposed Cherry Point Amendments are too restrictive for Cherry Point businesses. They also advocated for easier and predictable permitting processes.
      • The emcee for the event, WBA president, Tony Larson, claimed that there is a formalized group in our area “whose stated goal is to deindustrialize Cherry Point,” but he presented no evidence of such a group.

• The moderator for the March 19, 2019 event, Jim McKinney, perpetuated the idea that the Whatcom County Council has been problematic in its handling of the process for those amendments. However, the Cherry Point amendments process that has been ongoing for several years is a public process which includes detailed work and extensive review by the County Planning Commission, the County’s Planning and Development Services department, an outside legal firm, and the County Council.
  • • • There has been public testimony regarding the Cherry Point Amendments delivered verbally to the Whatcom County Council and the Whatcom County Planning Commission during their meetings and public hearings, as well as written public comments which have been submitted to them. Additional opportunities are upcoming for public comment on the amendments throughout the Planning Commission’s and County Council’s review process.

• Email communication records show that the WBA provided some specific names (and their contact information) of individuals at Cherry Point businesses for CEBR to contact for its report. 

• According to email communication records, in a number of instances, the WBA provided data to CEBR rather than that data having come directly from the Cherry Point businesses to CEBR.
  • • • WBA president, Tony Larson, provided Puget Sound Energy’s charitable giving numbers for 2018 in a March 12, 2019 email he sent to the CEBR research analyst working on the 2019 Employment at Cherry Point report.
      • WBA president, Tony Larson, provided data directly to CEBR regarding BP’s charitable giving numbers when he asked CEBR to make a correction to BP’s volunteer hours number in its draft report in a March 13, 2019 email he sent to the CEBR research analyst working on the 2019 Employment at Cherry Point report.

• Email communication records related to both the 2014 and the 2019 Employment at Cherry Point reports indicate that the analysis presented in those reports prepared by CEBR was not truly independent from the funding source which was the WBA, nor was that analysis truly independent from entities such as SSA Marine/PIT, Phillips 66 Ferndale refinery, BP Cherry Point refinery, and even the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority, all of which have provided funding to the WBA and have, or had, financial interests in Cherry Point.

If the slideshow below does not automatically play, click the play button to view the slideshow of the screenshot images. Readers may click to pause on any image; click the arrow forward to see the next image; click the arrow back to revisit one that readers have passed. Readers may also enlarge any image on their device to read larger text or view smaller image details.  

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Conclusion

The Searchlight Review finds that Western Washington University and its Center for Economic and Business Research have continued to allow the university’s good name and reputation to be used by the Whatcom Business Alliance, which wanted, as Hart Hodges had indicated in his August 2018 email, the university’s name on an advocacy piece.

Under the “Topics and Reports” page on CEBR’s website it states:

“Much of the Center’s work is paid research and analysis. This work is conducted using best practices overlaid with academic rigor and standards with the results of such analysis held as independent from the funding source. Our work is conducted by a team of select students, graduate students, faculty and staff and reviewed by qualified faculty and staff.”

The Searchlight Review also finds that the email communication records related to both the 2014 and the 2019 Employment at Cherry Point reports indicate that some analysis presented in those reports prepared by CEBR was not truly independent from the funding source which was the WBA. Neither was it indicated that the analysis was truly independent from entities such as SSA Marine/PIT, which has been a member of the WBA, has provided funding to the WBA, and had/has financial interests in Cherry Point.

It would be beneficial to Western Washington University to investigate what has transpired with CEBR’s 2014 and 2019 Employment at Cherry Point reports in order to determine if those overall processes were, in fact, conducted using best practices overlaid with academic rigor and standards with the results of such analysis held as independent from the funding source.